Volunteers capture injured sea lion

Volunteers for The Marine Mammal Center said a sea lion, rescued north of Pudding Creek Beach Tuesday, may have been underweight because of an injured flipper.

TMMC volunteers were told Tuesday morning that a sea lion was injured and had crawled up onto the sand.

"If it weren't for that bum flipper, he probably would have gotten away from us," said rescue volunteer Stan Anderson.

The sea lion's injury appeared to be an abrasion, a little smaller than a CD, on a front flipper near its torso.

"He wasn't making any effort to use that flipper at all," Anderson said, noting that the injury may also have kept it from hunting. "That may be why he's as skinny as he is."

Volunteers Chris Anderson, David Alden, Tanya Smart, Stan and Betty Anderson and Diane Klauss captured the 250-pound, six-foot-long sea lion and readied him for transport to the Sausalito facility for treatment.

Named "Mypal" by volunteers, The Marine Mammal Center will post updates online at http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/patients/ about his condition and progress.